Commercial Litigation Update

On July 7, 2022, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (“CFPB”) issued an advisory opinion entitled ‘“Fair Credit Reporting: Permissible Purposes for Furnishing, Using, and Obtaining Consumer Reports.”[1] The advisory opinion clarifies that “permissible purposes” under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (the “FCRA”) are “consumer specific” and highlights that a person who uses or obtains a “consumer report” is “strictly prohibit[ed]” from doing so without a permissible purpose under the FCRA. In the midst of ongoing Congressional efforts to pass a comprehensive federal data privacy law, the CFPB’s advisory opinion is a reminder of the existing rules that protect consumer privacy.

At the time of publication, at least twenty four states, plus Washington D.C. have declared states of emergency related to the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), with that number growing by the hour.  In addition to making more resources available to residents, in many cases, the declarations also trigger additional protections to consumers in the form of anti-price gouging laws. These laws, which automatically go into effect, are intended to prevent merchants from significantly increasing the cost of consumer goods and services during a crisis.

For instance, in New Jersey a ten ...